The chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx, expressed clear apprehension for the Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes, which she believes try to influence and indoctrinate American college students.
Confucius Institutes are a public education and cultural program funded by the Chinese government and administered by the Chinese International Education Foundation, formerly known as Hanban. Their mission is, in theory, to promote the Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally and facilitate cultural exchanges, according to the Austin Journal.
“Confucius Institutes peddle Communist propaganda in thinly veiled attempts to influence college and university students. They provide no value to students but pose an enormous danger,” Foxx said in a statement provided to State Newswire. “The CCP uses these institutes to soften its image and distract from its brutal authoritarianism and I have been fiercely outspoken against their use of colleges and universities to indoctrinate Americans. We must protect the integrity of postsecondary education from foreign threats.”
Confucius Institutes have been criticized for serving as a means for the Chinese government to infiltrate the U.S. higher education system through indoctrination and offering courses that paint China and the Chinese government in a positive light, according to the Austin Journal.
A National Association of Scholars report found 106 Confucius Institute locations were closed or in the process of being closed but continue to maintain a relationship with the Chinese institutions that were their partners. Although under another name, they acted very similarly. An update to the report in September 2022 confirmed 15 Confucius Institutes remained in the United States, with one at Stanford University in California.
In the rebranding of the Confucius Institutes, they became the Chinese International Education Fund, which the National Association of Scholars said continues to allow the Chinese government and CCP to influence American higher education. At least 28 of those had been replaced with a similar program, and at least 58 have maintained close ties with their former Confucius Institute partners.
People’s Republic of China officials claimed the remaining Confucius Institutes act as educational culture centers to teach the Chinese language and dismissed U.S. Congressional concerns, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service from May 2022. The report mentions that between 2006 and 2019, the Chinese government spent $158 million on Confucius Institutes. Confucius Institutes remain a controversial topic in Congress, although Foxx was clear in her belief they should be eliminated from American campuses.
